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Guest Post & Giveaway - FAQ’s Sounds Like Crazy Style

I am pleased to have Shana Mahaffey, author of Sounds Like Crazy here on Acting Balanced today as part of her Virtual Book Tour with Pump Up Your Book. I will be reviewing Shana's book tomorrow and you will have two separate days worth of opportunities to enter to win a copy of Sounds Like Crazy

FAQ’s Sounds Like Crazy Style

By Shana Mahaffey

I’ve compiled a list of the top three
questions I get asked at every reading. Enjoy!

Q. Most first
novels are thought to be autobiographical. How much of Sounds Like Crazy fits
this trend?

A. Okay, I am going to take the scenic
route to answering this question by taking you all the way back to the book
sale. It goes like this: early one morning, while I am standing in front of the
washer with a basket of laundry in my hand, my phone rings. Yes, I carried it with
me everywhere since my book was out on submission. My agent said, “We have an
editor at Penguin who is very interested in your novel, but she has one
question…” Palpable pause with me thinking, “They want the book for free? They
want me to pay them to publish the book…” and things of that nature. My agent
then said, “Now we’ve never discussed this before…” Another pause and still me
without a clue…, “But she is asking if you have Multiple Personality Disorder.”
Oh, is that all? I thought to myself. My agent waited, I took my time for
dramatic effect, then finally I said, “Well, that depends, do I need it?” Still
nervous, my agent replied, “No, they’d prefer you didn’t have it.”

Of course the editor didn’t take my
agent’s word for it. She called the next morning and basically said, “Hello,
this book is so interesting almost like you’ve lived it yourself, have you?” I
didn’t try to work the call as I’d done the day before. I simply stated, “No.”
Then I elaborated about my large Irish Catholic family—I am one of 18
grandchildren—and how that is akin to living with multiple personalities. The
rest is history in the form of Sounds
Like Crazy on shelf in the M section at a bookstore near you.

Q: Did you
always know you wanted to be a writer?

A: The answer is “Yes” asterisk. The
asterisk is to convey that while I must say yes, I can’t honestly say that I
ever had a choice. I mentioned above that I am one of 18 grandchildren. Well, I
had the inestimable fortune of a larger than life grandfather, also known as Poppa
in my family. The list of who he was is a long and filled with
accomplishments—war hero, semi professional athlete (there was no pro in his
day), hall of fame scholar, teacher, coach, and consummate example of a humble
human being practicing kindness and living an honest. And while he was one of
the original bloggers, sending out a typewritten (Underwood then IBM Selectric
all the way to 2005) monthly bulletin to a subscriber list of over 200, the one
accomplishment not in his showcase was published author, even though it was
definitely at the top of his dream list. By the time grandchildren came along,
he crafted a backup plan in the form of returning all written communications
from us to him corrected with red pen (he was also an English teacher). I believe
I am the only one who persevered and continued to write, which made me Plan B.
I wrote my first poem in fourth grade and continued from there to a minor in
creative writing in college along with poems, short stories published here and
there and a few controversial op ed pieces in the UC Santa Barbara paper. He
wasn’t crazy about the Op Ed pieces, but he continued to encourage me. Like
those who try to avoid their fate, I tried my hand at many different things
while never losing my passion for story telling and never losing his gentle
background goading. A few years back gentle was replaced with enthusiasm (it
seems the coach in him started thinking clock ticking, maybe it’s time for a
Hail Mary pass…). Finally, at Christmas he asked the question outright, “How is
the book coming along.” I demurred, became keenly fascinated in the photos on
the walls—ones I knew as well as the back of my own hand—made some noise about
it being a mess, until he asked the next most dreaded question: “Well, are you
following your outline?” English teacher, remember? I renewed my interest in
the photos and said, “Uh, outline?” Exclamations, waving hands, ensued. Then he
told me after Christmas I would bring over everything I had and we would sit
and outline it.

The new year started, illness—mine
then his—took a few weeks and then I was ready. Instead of getting a call from
him, though, I got a call from my sister, “Poppa is going into hospice today
and they are unsure if he’ll survive the night.” He survived three days while a
parade of well-wishers went through his room their words accompanied by the
sound of John McCormack (his favorite Irish singer) on the CD player. The last
evening, my cousin and I sat on either side of him talking about the book and
the outline. He hadn’t been lucid for a couple of days, but I was certain he
could hear us, so I said, “Poppa, I think it’s a rip-off you are dying before
my book gets outlined, so I’ll make you a deal: you hold the champagne and help
me from wherever it is you’re going, and I will dedicate everything I write to
you.” He died 30 seconds later. My cousins affectionately accused me of talking
him to death. It didn’t matter. His passing galvanized me and 18 months later I
had a completed novel ready for submission to an agent. I will not forget the
first time I printed out the manuscript—I held the warm sheets of paper against
my chest, closed my eyes and whispered, “Thank you, Poppa.” I swear I heard the
cork pop.

Q: What are
you working on now?

A: I am working on a story about a
woman who has to correct a mistake she doesn’t know she made, and guiding her
through the process is her best friend’s dead brother. This book is in some
ways very different from Sounds Like Crazy, but in other ways very similar. The
latter because it tells a story about a woman struggling to face a very
difficult truth, and in doing so, changes her life. Also, in the tradition of
my favorite author, Robertson Davies, the book is the second in a trilogy
linked by characters. In this book, Holly’s father (Holly is the main character
of Sounds Like Crazy) plays a key minor role; and, you will get a brief glimpse
of Holly as a child.

Shana
Mahaffey lives in San Francisco in an Edwardian compound that she shares
with an informal cooperative of family, friends and five cats. She’s a survivor
of Catechism and cat scratch fever, and is a member of the Sanchez Grotto Annex, a writers’
community. Her work has been published in SoMa Literary Review and Sunset Magazine. She welcomes
all visitors to her website www.shanamahaffey.com,
and is happy to meet with book groups in-person or in cyberspace
(phone/webcam/the works).

About Sounds Like Crazy

Though she doesn’t remember the trauma that caused it, Holly Miller has Dissociative Identity Disorder. Herpersonality has fractured into five different identities, together known as The Committee. And as much as they make Holly’s life hell, she can’t live without them. Then one of those identities, the flirtatious, southern Betty Jane, lands Holly a voiceover job. Betty Jane wants nothing more than to be in the spotlight. The rest of The Committee wants Betty Jane to shut up. Holly’s therapist wants to get to the bottom of her broken psyche. And Holly? She’s just along for the ride.